Livid Olivia and Skeptical Skittery
by ShoeGoil
Summary: Skittery and Olivia are two of the most cynical newsies in Manhattan. Watch as their tempers flare and sparks fly. Based on a RP by Morning Glory and ShoeGoil. It will eventually have two endings, since MG and I couldn't agree on the ending. lol
1. There's a hole in my pocket

Note: This story is a re-vamped RP by Morning Glory (as Olivia) and ShoeGoil (as Skittery). We hope you laugh as hysterically as we did while RPing it.

**Livid Olivia and Skeptical Skittery**

Chapter 1: There's a hole in my pocket

* * *

Scowling on this particular day, Olivia stormed down the streets back to the lodging house. She had sold all of her papers, though a hole that had gone unnoticed in her pocket, made a good escape route for all her change. Not to mention that it had started to rain now on this cool day. Olivia pushed back the wet strands of hair that were plastered to her face back. Shoving her hands deep into her pockets, her fingers poking through the bottom of the left one, Liv fumed into the lodging house. "Damn it!"

Heading up to the bunkroom at a quick pace Olivia smacked right into Skittery. It had been her fault completely, yet she blamed it on him. "Watch where you are going!"

"You watch it, dollface," Skittery said, shoving his elbow toward Olivia's face. He wouldn't really elbow her in the face, of course. But he was sick and tired of her attitude. And he wasn't the kind of guy to take attitude from just anyone. "And why don'tcha take a chill pill while you're at it?"

Liv made a face and grabbed his elbow shoving it back down to his side, "My name ain't dollface," she said to Skittery. She pushed passed him, hitting into him as she passed. "And I don't need a chill pill…I need you to stay out of my way." She snapped grabbing a dry shirt off her bed.

Skittery smirked slightly. "Yeah? You need me to stay outta your way? Maybe you should stop being such a joy to be around, DOLLFACE," he said exaggeratedly. "As you are now, you're so charming, I can't stand to be more than a few feet away from you."

Olivia made a face when Skittery called her dollface again. She hated when the guys called her dollface. Skittery was just adding to her bad day now. As if the rain and losing all the money she had wasn't bad enough now Skittery was annoying her. Liv grabbed a dry pair of pants and headed into the washroom. She changed into the dry clothes quickly and pulled her wet hair out of her face before returning to the bunkroom, "You're a jerk, you know that?" She sat down on her bunk examine the hole in her pocket.

Skittery frowned. "I'm a jerk, huh? Well, you're a..." He looked at her, his eyes narrowed. What could he insult her with? Plenty. "You're a dollface." So it was the worst he could come up with. Then he saw her looking at the pants she was holding. "What happened? You lose something?" he spoke with interest, not in a teasing manner.

Livia kept a small smirk to herself when the best Skittery could come up with was Dollface. She supposed it was better than being a jerk. Then she rolled her eyes a little. "Lost all my mornin' earnings." Her expression changed to anger, not at him, but at herself for being so stupid. The hole was the size of a half dollar so that meant that everything that size and smaller fell through. There had been too many people around for her to notice she lost all her money.

Liv leaned over the side of her bunk to look for the small sewing kit that was somewhere in the bunkroom, "Go ahead...tell me how stupid I am for not checking me pockets." She said to Skittery waiting for the insults.

Skittery had a reputation for being pessimistic, but really he just felt that he

told things as they were. It wasn't his fault that most of the time things were bad, so he pointed them out as such. It gave people the impression that he liked to insult them, when really, he thought he was being realistic.

Olivia's defensive attitude toward him now was proof of this common misconception. He had no interest in insulting her. But hey, if she wanted to start the ball rolling with calling herself stupid, he figured he might as well let her. "Awright. You WERE stupid for not checking your pockets. But you ain't the first stupid person, an' ya sure as hell won't be the last."

Livia found the sewing kit and pulled out some thread. She scowled a little more as Skittery made fun of her. Rolling her eyes she unrolled some of the thread around her fingers. Liv held the needle up squinting one eye as she carefully threaded it. "And that's why you're a jerk." She retorted. It wasn't much of an answer for what he had said to her, but still it was something.

"In what world," he said to her, "are people jerks for agreeing with people?"

"You're a jerk for agreeing with me." Olivia said to him tying a knot in the end of the thread.

He raised his eyebrows at her, and then wandered over to where she was sitting and sat down at the bunk across from her. "Hope you're using doubled thread. Otherwise you'll just get another hole in your pocket."

She stuck her tongue out at him as she started to sew the hole in her pocket. "Why do you care? It'll only be my money and my problem if I lose it again. And anyway, who made you sewing master?"

"I'm no sewing master. I just happen to have common sense, is all. I think you would do, considering that you're a poor newsie, just like me. Who can afford to NOT have common sense?" He looked at her pointedly.

"Common sense?" Liv laughed a little and shook her head. Skittery, have common sense? He didn't have enough common sense to leave her alone at times. Yet part of Olivia liked having the attention from people, even if it was negative attention. She felt less lonely. "And now you know everything, don't ya? Ow."

Livia had pricked her finger with the needle she hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing. "Maldígalo, yo odian coser! Aguja e hilo de rosca estúpidos! Agujero estúpido en mi bolsillo!" She uttered under her breath taking the tangled thread apart from the hole.

Skittery wrinkled his nose, not understanding a word she was saying. "I THOUGHT I knew everything. But I guess I don't. Mind translating for us uneducated folk?" It didn't occur to him that what she had sent wasn't meant for him to understand.

Livia looked up at Skittery from the mess of thread and her pants. "I ain't any good at sewing," she said to him in a matter of fact voice, "It's supposed to be simple. All the other girls around here can patch a damn hole." Olivia glared hard at the pants for a few seconds. Lousy pants, lousy life. "Nothin' ever goes right," she muttered to herself.

"Now, you know that's not true. Sometimes, things do go right," Skittery said. "Not often, but sometimes. An' this is one of those not often moments. So hand over those trousers." He held out his hands so she could hand over her pants and needle. "I'll get it fixed in half a second. Then you can find something more terrible to complain about."

Livia eyed Skittery. There had to be some kind of catch to this. "What's in it for you?" Olivia asked, handing him the pants, and the stuff to sew them. Liv had never had any one do anything for her just to be nice. Every one she had ever come across always wanted something from her in return. That's why Livia never asked for any one's help. "I mean it's not that I don't appreciate it…just no one does anything just to be nice."

Skit looked at Livia warily before looking down at the pants and concentrating on his stitching. "You wanna know what's in it for me? You keep pestering me with your mopey, 'everyone hates me' attitude and I'll sew your pants shut. That's what's in it for me." He hated being thanked. It made him feel so awkward. Why did girls always have to get all emotional on him?

Livia's nose wrinkled as Skittery threatened to sew her pants shut. "I ain't all mopey," she said to him. "Jus' there ain't ever much that goes right...plus no one ever does anything for other people unless they want something in return...no one's ever done nothing for me...I'd never ask no one for help either." Liv stopped talking and watched him sew. "Where'd you learn how to sew?"

"See, you say you ain't all mopey. But there you, go: 'no one does nothin'

widdout wantin' somethin' in return.' Blah, blah, blah," Skittery mocked Liv. "Git over yourself. You sound like me." He bit off the extra piece of thread, already finished sewing up the hole. "Anyway, necessity is the mother of inventions. I learned how to sew same as I learned how to sell papes. I hadta learn, so I did."

"Well I don't want to be sounding like you." Olivia watched Skittery, amazed that he actually sewed the hole for her. "See I need to know how to sew, however it isn't working quite that way for me." She wrinkled her nose. Liv took the pants and inspected the job that he had done. "Not bad," Livia commented.

Skittery narrowed his eyes at Liv. "Of course it ain't bad. An' if you look even closer, you'll find that it's sewn quite good!" He stood up. What was he doing wasting his time putting up with this girl's attitude? Even when she wasn't being rude, she couldn't stand to be polite. "Maybe you should rip your pants more often, then you'd have more chances ta practice sewing. You'd be quite good if you had to practice more." He reached for her pants and with his teeth, ripped open the seam he had just sewn. "There. There's your chance."

Olivia's eyes went wide when he pulled out the stitches in the pants. "SKITTERY!!" She shouted with shock and anger. "I can't believe you just did that!" She didn't know how to sew. She had tried many times. It was like one of those things that you just weren't good at no matter how hard you tried. "You get pleasure in bothering me and making me angry don't you?"

"Get pleasure in bothering you?" Skittery said, as if the idea shocked him. He put a hand on his chest with mock innocence. "I wouldn't dream of bothering you, let alone would I dream of bothering you for pleasure!" He frowned slightly. "Wait, am I bothering you right now?"

Livia had punched him in the shoulder, but she didn't punch him too hard, "I think you do!" She snapped, shoving him a little and then opening a drawer to get some thread. "Why else would you bother me? Unless you do it just to be mean!"

Turning back to her bunk she sat down again, attempting to thread the needle. Liv eyed him, she wanted to say, no, that he wasn't bothering her because the truth was she enjoyed the attention from him, "What do you think?"

Skittery took a step back with surprise after he was hit in the shoulder. He made a pouty face, not a pretend pouty face, but an actual pouty face, and rubbed his shoulder with the opposite hand. "Geeze, Liv. Can't take whatcha dish out?" With a scowl, he added, "I was gonna say that I'm not bugging you that much, but I may just hafta start bugging you after that..."

Livia wrinkled her whole face. "I can take it!" she said to him, "Just..." Liv threw the pants she was holding in her hands at him. "You're such a JERK!" she said angrily.

Her day was not getting any better. It was only a matter of time before she had to ask some one nicely to let her borrow money to buy some papers seeing as her money was laying out on the street somewhere. "You are always picking fights with me."

Skittery sneered. "Yeah? I'm a JERK, huh? Well you're a real pest, you know that?" He caught the pants angrily as she threw them at him, and was about to throw them back at her.

"If I'm a REAL pest then why do you even talk to me?!" Liv glared at Skittery.

"Maybe I talk to you the same reason that someone swats a fly. It's not because they like to spend time playing with the fly. It's cuz what else do you do to a fly?" Skittery frowned slightly, realizing that his metaphor didn't quite work. He shrugged. "Anyway, I could leave any moment and leave you alone. Wouldja like that?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow at the words spilling from the tall boy's mouth. She gave him a slow nod and rolled her eyes. Liv looked at the thread and needle. If there was another way to fix her pants she would do it. She put the needle down on the nightstand near her bunk along side of the thread. She gave up for now. She'd figure another way to get them fixed.

"I don't care what you do, Skittery." Livia said to him. Honestly deep inside Olivia didn't want Skittery to leave. He was one of the few people who actually spoke.

Standing up she headed over towards the window climbing out onto the fire escape. Sometimes Olivia wished that she wasn't so secluded from the other newsies. She just couldn't open herself up to let anyone get in close enough. She leaned forward and pulled a cigarette out of her shirt pocket. She held it between her fingers, but didn't light it, yet.


	2. Looking down on Creation

Note: This story is a re-vamped RP by Morning Glory (as Olivia) and ShoeGoil (as Skittery). We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

**Livid Olivia and Skeptical Skittery**

Chapter 2: On the Top of the World, looking down on Creation

* * *

Skittery rolled his eyes and sighed at himself as he watched Olivia climb out the window. Girls were so emotional. It was rather annoying. However, he didn't feel like leaving, as he had threatened to do. With a shrug, he mosied on over after her and while she was turned the other way, he lit a match from his matchbox. "Trade you a light for a cigarette," he said, his voice void of all emotion.

Livia looked over at Skittery from the corner of her eye. She drew in a deep breath and nodded accepting the light from him. Olivia pulled another cigarette out from her shirt pocket. It was her last. She could gamble for more later, or get more tomorrow after she sold tomorrow and had actual money. "Thanks." Liv took a slow drag from the cigarette and slowly let it out. The gray smoke swirled up into the air. Livia noticed that Skittery was still around. Why, though? She wasn't exactly the nicest to him. "Yer one stubborn muchaco."

"You think trading goods for services makes a fella stubborn?" Skittery commented, still leaning outside the window with his forearms resting on the windowsill, with his legs still in the lodging house.

Olivia shook her head letting out another puff of smoke. "Not that," she said to him quietly. "No matter what I say to you, you never just leave." Livia meant that the best way that she could. She treaded carefully because she really didn't want him to leave. "Normally people give up a lot easier."

"Give up WHAT?" Skittery said, giving her a feigned puzzled look. "I don't know what you're talking about, Dollface."

Livia looked towards Skittery. Did he really not get what she was saying? She leaned her elbows back against the step behind her and took another slow drag. "Nothing," she replied biting her tongue.

He took a slow drag on his borrowed cigarette. "Anyway, you're the first person I've talked to all day that hasn't told me I'm in a bad mood. It pays to talk to people who are grumpier than myself."

Liv's entire face wrinkled when Skittery called her grumpier than him, "You aren't always grumpy...just honest. Calling it how you see it," she replied, "And I'm not grumpy."

Skittery pointed at her, as if she had just proven his point. "See, only grumpy people say they ain't grumpy...except for me of course. I'm really not grumpy." He shrugged as if it really didn't matter to him. "Anyway, you ain't calling it as you see it right now. You're just grumpy." He took another long drag on his cigarette, and then stared out the window, looking at the view of the street.

"Never said that I was." Livia answered him. She drew in a breath of fresh air allowing the cigarette to burn down slightly. Olivia watched the people pass on the streets below. "It ain't grumpiness either...it's just a general dislike for people, and their annoying habits." Liv was an angry person; she was an angry hurt person. Harboring a lot of anger, people didn't call her Livid Livia for no reason, "Why do you care?" she asked with a bit of anger in her tone now.

"Who said I cared?" Skittery said, his voice rising slightly. "I still don' see how trading a cigarette for a match constitutes anything other 'n a business relationship."

He wasn't looking at her when he said any of this. He was still looking down into the street. He was tempted to throw his cigarette down into the throng, to see what would happen. But that would mean he wouldn't be able to smoke it anymore, so he refrained from his temptation.

Why did she even bother talking to him? Livia inhaled deeply taking one last drag from her cigarette before flicking it to the street below. "You're so thick headed sometimes!" she stated with anger and frustration. Livia pushed a hand through her long brown hair tying it back as she rose to her feet. She wasn't sure what her next move was going to be. If she was going to leave, she didn't know where she was going. "You're just like every one else." Liv commented.

Skittery's eyes widened as she tossed her cigarette down into the street, and leaned far over, out of the window, to see where it would land, completely ignoring her comments about being thick-headed and just like everyone else. In fact, he was leaning so far over, he lost his balance and fell head-first out onto the fire escape. "Ow..." he muttered, untangling his long arms and legs and pulling himself back up to a standing position, glowering at himself for being so awkward all of a sudden.

Olivia bit her lower lip hard as Skittery fell out of the window onto the fire escape, holding back a laugh. She was still quite angry, but apparently not as angry as she thought she was, folding her arms tightly around herself. She rolled her eyes a bit and looked down at Skittery as he stood up. "You okay?" she muttered under her breath.

"What, no laugh at my expense?" Skittery said with a glare, suddenly not trusting Olivia. "You're not gonna rub it in my face that I just made a complete fool of myself?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm fine. So go 'head an' laugh at me so I can get angry at you."

Livia was shocked at Skittery's anger towards her suddenly and took a step back hitting the rail behind her. She quickly grasped the bar to keep from falling backwards, "I ain't nasty and bitter all the time, Skittery," liv said with a wrinkled forehead and obvious offense taken. "I am human." Livia could feel the anger inside of her again and tried not to let it show.

"Human, huh?" he muttered, closing his eyes as he ran his hand through his hair, pushing it off of his forehead before putting his hat back on his head firmly. He looked at her finally. "Maybe you SHOULD be bitter all the time…it seems safer, doesn't it?"

"It IS safer." Livia folded her arms, still standing where she was up against the rail, "Safer than letting some one get close. Emotions just show how weak people are. Most of them are useless." Olivia drew in a deep breath and looked away from Skittery. He was fine. Nothing broken, the only bruise he got was to his ego. "Can't get hurt."

Skittery nodded, following her example and not looking at her either. "Most people are useless, too," he added. "Right?" He raised an eyebrow and looked into her face. It wasn't clear if he was teasing her, agreeing with her, or just testing her.

Olivia didn't answer him right away. She didn't want to get into this conversation. It might expose something of hers that she worked so hard to keep to herself. She continued to look out at the street as they stood there. "Depends on who you're talking about," she mumbled with a sigh.

"Right. I guess some people ARE useful," Skittery said. "Like Kloppman." He looked up at her when he said that. "Without Kloppman we'd either be on the streets or be under the thumb of some tyrannical lodging house master...Right?"

The rain that had stopped before they climbed outside on the fire escape slowly began to pick up again. Olivia finally looked back towards Skittery as he talked. She nodded slowly, "Yeah Kloppman." Livia agreed with Skittery on one thing in her life. She was grateful that they had Kloppman around to run the lodging house. Olivia's anger slowly subsided, though it probably wouldn't be long before something else snapped. She pushed her wet brown hair from her face and looked at Skittery watching his hair slowly wilt in the rain. She tried her hardest not to smirk. "You look like a drowned rat," she said playfully, brushed some wet curls back from his face.

"Do I?" Skittery said, with an awkward chuckle, a little surprised by her touching his hair. "Well, if I look like a drowned rat, you look like a drowned mouse," he said, taking off his hat and twisting it to wring out the rain. He hit her on the shoulder with it gently before sticking it back on his head, plastering his hair down onto his forehead. His hat was misshapen, as though the fabric didn't like getting wet, and it sagged and flopped comically on his head.

Olivia let a small smile slip across her lips trying her hardest to hold it back, "Suppose I do." She moved some more wet strands from her face. Liv sat down on the steps of the fire escape and looked up at Skittery. "It's a good look for you." Livia gave a small laugh watching him replace the hat on his head.

Skittery wrinkled his nose slightly. "Yeah, I'll bet it IS a good look for me," he said, obviously sarcastic. "But I'll have to admit, it's not exactly a good look for you, considering that other times you've looked much better." The tone of his voice wasn't as sarcastic when he said this, however. In fact, it might almost seem as though he was paying Liv a compliment, though if he realized that it seemed like that, he would probably have added an additional rude remark.

Olivia looked up at him from the corner of her eyes and smiled a little more. She flipped a few strands from her face listening to what Skittery said. "Thanks," she said to him softly. Olivia wasn't sure how to react really to what Skittery said, and thought thanks would work well. Livia felt the rain pick up a bit more and the distant rumble of thunder. "We should probably go inside," Liv suggested even though she didn't make a move to go in.

"Yeah, we should," Skittery in agreement, only he didn't make a move to go in either. Instead he pulled his thin canvas jacket closer around his body and leaned forward against the fire escape railing. The wind seemed to be picking up, too, and he was pretty cold, but hey, he was a guy, so he could handle it.

Olivia stood next to Skittery and glanced over at him. He wasn't as bad as Livia always said he was with her rude and mean comments and insults. Livia shivered a little thinking that she should have gone inside, but now it was a little stand off to see who could last the longest outside. "Ever think..." Livia started, but quickly stopped. There was no reason to bring up topics that could be considered emotional.

"Nah, never think," Skittery replied quickly to Livia's start to her question. "At least not much." A tiny little smile playing in the corner of his mouth was the only indication that he was teasing her. He knew that wasn't the whole question, but he answered it as if she was merely asking him if he ever thought. He was curious what she had started to ask, but had stopped herself. He was curious, but not curious enough to ask her point blank. He was curious, but he was even more stubborn. He wrapped his arms around himself to try to hold in the warmth. He wasn't going to go inside first, that's for sure.

Olivia who hadn't grabbed a coat before she climbed out the fire escape wasn't giving in before Skittery. She'd probably catch pneumonia. Liv knew in her gut that Skittery would probably outlast her out here. "Well I know ya never think Skittery." She elbowed him a bit. So this was what getting along with some one was like? Livia never got along with any one in the lodging house, even the nicest of people like Bumlets, Itey, Windswept, or Grace.

"Yeah?" Skittery said, raising an eyebrow and realizing that his joke had backfired on him. He didn't like being the butt of any joke, but for someone reason, her elbowing him, suddenly made him start to laugh. A short laugh, because he's Skittery after all, but it was a laugh, nonetheless!

Livia looked over at Skittery and let out a small sigh. "You ain't that bad really," she admitted to him. Olivia felt a bit weird telling him that she was enjoying his company actually. She pushed her wet hair out of her face once more, and was just about to let Skittery win their little stand off outside.

Skittery smirked slightly. He was tempted to say something obnoxious, like 'yeah, and you ain't that good,' but instead he happened to notice just how wet and cold Liv was starting to look. "Oh, come on," he said, heading back toward the window. "We're bein' silly." He didn't mention anything about her saying that he wasn't 'that bad'. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.


	3. Hey Now! Those are my Pants!

Note: This story is a re-vamped RP by Morning Glory (as Olivia) and ShoeGoil (as Skittery). We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. "That weird gypsy girl" and "Bumlets' pretty girl friend" are owned by Morning Glory, who also played Mush.

**Livid Olivia and Skeptical Skittery **

**Chapter 3: Hey, now! Those are my pants!**

Skittery and Livia were so wet from being out on the fire escape in the rain that a puddle began to collect around the bottom of their feet once they got inside. Livia picked through her clothes looking for something dry that she could wear. She also grabbed an extra blanket as well and glanced over at Skittery.

Skittery was turned away from Olivia. He had just thrown his wet button-down shirt onto the ground and was in the process of pulling his pink long johns down around his waist when he turned back around and saw her looking at him. "But don't get your hopes up. That's as far as I'm going," he said. A little smirk in the corner of his mouth was the only thing that made it evident that he was joking. Then he added, "Well don't just stand there with your mouth hangin' open." He reached over and pulled the blanket out of her hand and wrapped it around his bare, wet upper body, shivering slightly.

Olivia felt a blush creep across her cheeks when Skittery caught her glance. Flustered, she allowed him to take the blanket from her hands. "Someone thinks highly of himself," Olivia muttered quietly. Shivering, still in her wet clothes, she picked up her dry clothes and turned, finding herself face to face with Skittery. "Uh..I..."

"Did you need this back?" Skittery asked, unwrapping himself of the blanket and holding it in front of her. When she didn't reach for it right away, he leaned over slightly and rubbed it over his soaked hair, then stood back up and tried to hand it back to her again. His face was void of any sort of mischief this time. "Take it, you look cold," he added with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Olivia was tongue tied, between him standing there with his long johns around his waist and the words coming out of his mouth. Finally Livia found her words. "I don't want it back," she said with a bit of anger. She grabbed her dry shirt. Not having any dry pants of her own she quickly looked around the bunkroom and grabbed the first pair laying on the bunk next to her. Olivia quickly shoved past Skittery into the washroom to change.

Skittery smirked and crossed his arms in front of his bare chest, watching her stalk off. He didn't have many happy moments, but seeing Liv there, for once having nothing to say, made for a very happy moment, indeed. With a short chuckle to himself, he reached down towards his bed for some dry clothes, but stopped short with a small gasp. His pants. The little wench had just made off with HIS pants! "Cripes," he said with another shiver. His soaked long johns did not make for comfortable winter evening apparel. With a sigh, and another glance toward where Livia had gone off, Skittery pulled the damp blanket around his waist and started to pull off his pants, hoping no one would come in and see him in such an unfortunate and embarrassing circumstance.

Olivia stripped out of her soaking clothes, shivering. She could feel goosebumps prickle as the cold air touched her skin. She slipped her arms into the sleeves, buttoning the shirt quickly. Looking at the pants she had picked up, she noticed they were Skittery's. She hadn't looked carefully when she had grabbed them. Besides his pants would be the closest to fitting her. Livia hung her wet clothes to dry and headed back out to the bunkroom, but stopped in her tracks.

Holding the blanket around his waist with one hand, Skittery had just managed to shed his outer pants and was in the process of shimmying out of his long johns when he happened to glance up and see Liv stopped in the doorway. His face turned as pink as his underwear as he muttered something along the lines of, "well, you had seemed disappointed earlier," but there was no cockiness or bravado behind his words. He pulled the blanket tighter around his waist, his long johns down around his knees. "What are YOU looking at?" he added with a Skittery scowl.

Olivia's cheeks turned the same shade of pink that Skittery's had. All that would come out were stutters. "I'm..I'm...uh..." Livia turned away from Skittery, facing the bunkroom door. "I'm sorry...Dutchy's pants might fit you." She spoke quickly before dashing out to the hallway where the air was much cooler. Livia stepped down a couple of stairs before she sat down.

Skittery cursed under his breath, then rummaged through Dutchy's stuff until he found a pair of pants. Then he slipped the rest of the way out of his long underwear, slipped on his summer undershorts, and yanked on Dutchy's pants. They were a little snug on him, but they'd do until his clothes dried or he was able to re-claim his pants from Liv. He hung his wet clothes in the bathroom, and then wandered back to his bunk, searching for a dry shirt of some kind. He convinced himself that it was nice having a breather from Liv, after all of his embarrassment, but he found himself continually looking in the direction in which she disappeared.

In the hallway, Livia's cheeks were cooling down some now. It wasn't her fault she walked in on him like that. How was she supposed to know that he was changing? Livia checked her pocket for a cigarette, but remembered that she had given the last one to Skittery. Standing up Livia turned to go back into the bunkroom. She closed her eyes and placed her hand over them. "I don't want to catch you with your pants around you ankles again," Liv said.

Skittery frowned at Liv's comment. "Hey, at least I'm not wearing YOUR pants. You wearing my pants is going to go over real well. Try explaining that one. In fact, I can think of several girls who will find that very suspicious," he said with a smirk. He was looking through his stuff to see if he had any more shirts. He was cold!

Livia peered through her fingers, and seeing he was only shirtless now, she removed her hand from over her eyes, "It's under your bed." Livia motioned to his bunk about his shirt. She looked down at the pants she was wearing. "It was an honest mistake!" She gave a small yank on waist of the pants. They were slightly too big. "Side's you're the jerk who re-ripped the hole in my pocket on my other pants!" She pointed out with an annoyed look on her face, "And! You owe me a cigarette!" Liv tossed in.

Skittery crawled under the bed to find the other shirt, then came back out,

dusting it off. "I'm sorry," he said with feigned apology. "I seemed to have misunderstood what you just said. It almost sounded as though you said I was a jerk, and we all know that couldn't possibly be true," he said, slipping his arms into the shirt and starting to button it up. He looked around the room, noticing that still none of the other guys had come back to the bunkroom. He wondered what aligned stars had caused him the bad luck of being stuck alone with Liv. And they had been getting along so well a short while ago. "Borrow one of Racetrack's cigars," he added as an after thought, slipping on the suspenders.

Olivia's nosed wrinkled at the notion of borrowing one of Racetrack's cigars, "That's disgusting!" Liv exclaimed. She glared at Skittery, and then let out a small sigh.

Mush who had heard the shouting of Livia and words from Skittery, knew that the bunkroom wasn't empty. He had finally reached the doorframe and heavily released the huge breath he had been holding. The pain was almost too much in his ribcage, and he was sure one or two was broken.

Livia spun around almost jumping when Mush came up behind her. "Mush!" Her face was hard at first, but seeing that he was injured it softened a bit. "What happened?"

Mush noticed Skittery's pants on Livia and Skittery buttoning up his shirt. "Gang," he muttered leaning against the doorframe.

"I'll be right back...go lay on your bunk," Olivia ordered before disappearing. Mush pushed off the doorframe gently and eyed Skittery with suspicion and a slight amused smile on his face, "Did I interrupt something?" He asked.

Skittery snarled at Mush's insinuation. "She wishes," he muttered. He was slightly annoyed. He had figured that some of the girls might gossip about Liv, which he wouldn't have minded because that wench deserved to be gossiped about. But for HIM to be the butt of a joke... it was just too much for him. "Actually, the only thing you interrupted is something that shoulda been interrupted an hour ago. That girl is a harpy and a half."

Mush would have laughed, but laughter only would have caused pain to shoot through his ribs. "I guess," he replied to what Skittery said about Olivia. Of course the girl had a temper and tended to lash out at others, but Mush didn't hold it against people. Every one had their reasons for the way they were. Mush never questioned why Skittery tended to be glum and pessimistic. Mush laid on his bunk moving at the pace of an old man, even making a couple of groaning noises, "Man that hurts." Mush winced drawing in a slow breath, only if he didn't have to breath.

Olivia came back up into the bunkroom with a towel wrapped around some ice, she shot Skittery a look, almost a look as if she knew he had been talking about her (but she didn't). "Here." Olivia handed Mush the ice. "Might help a bit..." she said. "Might wanna talk to that weird gypsy girl if you're in pain. Saw her give ZigZag somethin' last week for pain." With that Livia walked over to her bunk and sat down. Her eyes scanned the floor for another pair of pants.

"Thanks." Mush said breathlessly placing the ice on his ribs. They were in more pain than his black eye.

Skittery watched Livia tend to Mush, and felt a little bad for not being very sympathetic to Mush's situation. After she had gone back to sit down, Skittery sat down next to Mush on his bunk.

"So, Mush. Why'd they soak ya?" Skittery asked, trying to be sociable. Maybe he'd be able to help Mush out or something, it being the gentlemanly thing to do, and all. That'd show Livia.

Olivia shifted on the bed. She picked up the pair of pants with the hole in the pocket deciding to give it another chance before she asked some one to do it for her.

"Cause I tried ta soak one of theirs first." Mush replied using as little breath as he could, "Got him pretty good, but then some of his goon friends showed up."

"What would possess you to try to soak some gang member, huh? What are ya, crazy?" Skittery asked, an obviously surprised look on his face. He had never known Mush to attack first in a fight.

"He was skulking nearby, sorta trailing one of the younger kids," Mush explained to Skittery. "I knew I could take him on. Just didn't think he'd have friends nearby."

Livia listened to Mush talk about his fight. She wanted to go soak the jerks for what they did to Mush. "Ow." Liv put her finger in her mouth after she had pricked it with the needle.

"Ain't like Jack was aroun' to take care of it any ways." Mush pointed out he hadn't seen their leader all day.

Skittery frowned at that news. Now that Mush mentioned it, he hadn't seen Jack all day either. And Jack was a loud-mouth so it was hard to not notice him.

He glanced at Liv sucking on her finger, shook his head slightly with an amused look on his face, and then turned back to Mush. "Well you shouldn't 'a gone after him on your own. You shoulda found me or something."

Olivia caught the amused look and was about to say something to him, but she refrained. There was a good chance she was going to have to ask him to help her with the pocket situation (yes, it has now becoming a situation). Olivia narrowed her eyes and focused on the hole, maybe it was better just not to put anything in that pocket. As long as she could remember not to. Olivia pricked her finger again and a slew of curse words in Spanish flowed from her mouth.

Mush rearranged the ice on his poor ribs, "Yeah, I know that now." He let his head sink deep into his pillow. Mush closed his eyes for a few moments, "Ain't seen that gypsy girl have you?" Mush asked Skittery, pretty sure that it was unlikely the weird girl had been back to the lodging house. Most of the newsies were at Medda's or Tibby's.

"Nah, just Bums and that pretty girlfriend of his were here earlier," Skittery said, smirking slightly. "Say, maybe you should send Liv off to find 'er. I'm sure she wouldn't mind going out in the rain again," he added, taking the attention off of himself before anyone would suggest that he help out.

He glanced expectantly at Liv.

Olivia looked up from the sewing she was attempting and at Skittery. She gave a small smile, "Sure, no problem." Livia stood up from where she was sitting. She put her pants down, the pocket was almost done. She walked over to Skittery, "Don't forget whose pants I'm wearing out." Livia smirked. They weren't her pants she was getting wet, and she was pretty sure they were Skittery's last dry pair and Dutchy probably would be looking for his own pants later. With that Olivia headed out of the bunkroom and down the stairs.

Mush watched Livia leave the room, he was sure that she was going only because she wanted to get back at Skittery for something, but it was nice of her to go even if there was a reason behind it.

Skittery's mouth hung open slightly as he watched Liv march off. How come, every time he tried to irk her, it just ended up backfiring? He glanced toward Mush, his mouth still hanging open, then stared back in the direction that Liv had disappeared. A second later he took off after Livia in a most awkward fashion.

"Wait! Wait, Liv! No!" he hollered, rushing over to the stairs in a panic. "Those are my last dry pants!"


	4. Ask, and ye shall receive

Note: This story is a re-vamped RP by Morning Glory (as Olivia) and ShoeGoil (as Skittery). We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Gypsy and Mush are also played by Morning Glory.

**Livid Olivia and Skeptical Skittery**  
Chapter 4: Ask, and ye shall receive

* * *

Olivia had made it half way down the stairs when Skittery came after her. She stopped where she was and turned to look up at him. "Might want to think before you speak next time." She gave Skittery a sharp look, but then changed her look. "I wasn't going to go out and get your pants all wet. I'm not a jerk like some people." Olivia was still stuck on the hole in the pocket thing and how he had taken the stitches out. Olivia took a couple steps down and looked in the lobby where a couple of newsies who had just walked in still stood. "Gypsy, Mush needs your help," she called out, spotting the girl.

Olivia turned quickly, dashing up the stairs before she had to speak to the girl any more than that. She brushed past Skittery, bumping his shoulder slightly, leaving him there to answer Gypsy.

Gypsy was soaking wet as she made her way through the guys in the lobby and started up the stairs. She pulled off her shawl. Her shirt wasn't wet underneath. All this girl had to do was lose one layer of skirt and she'd be dry again. "What happened?" Gyp asked Skittery as she made her way upstairs.

Skittery scowled in the direction of Olivia, then answered Gypsy rather civilly, which is pretty surprising considering that it's Skittery we're talking about here.

"It's Mush. He got soaked by some gangsters. The fool should have come for help instead of going at it alone. Anyway, his ribs are hurting him and he needs something for the pain," Skittery finished explaining as they got to the top of the stairs and stepped aside so Gypsy could go into the room first.

Olivia walked back into the bunkroom, looking at Mush from the corner of her eye. He lay on his bunk with his eyes closed. She could see the obvious pain on his face. Olivia sat down on her bunk and picked up her pants again examining the work she had done so far.

Gypsy wrinkled her nose. "Well that wasn't a smart move," she agreed with Skittery. "Though the two of you getting hurt wouldn't be smart either." Gypsy passed Skittery on the stairs and saw Mush. She went over to her bunk and kneeled down looking under it for a small box.

Skittery quite purposely kept his gaze from going toward Olivia, almost to the point that he seemed to be obviously ignoring her. He watched Gyp steadily, keeping his eyes focused on her movements.

"You think you got something that will help his pain?" he asked with feigned interest. He was just pretending to make conversation in order to show Olivia that he was normal.

Olivia noted that Skittery was ignoring her; she didn't care at this point. She knew anything that was said between the two of them would just lead to some sort of an argument. Livia thought that Gypsy didn't need the extra noise and neither did Mush at the moment. Olivia removed the stitches in the pants pocket to retry it again.

Gypsy pulled out a small wooden box that had what looked like dried leaves, grass, and bark in it, but mixed properly they could do various things. "White Willow bark will help the pain some," Gypsy explained, pulling out a bit of it. Gypsy also took out some ginger, which would be made into a paste. "This will reduce the swelling." She gave Skittery a friendly smile.

Mush lifted his head a little and looked over at what Gypsy was doing. "That's really going to work?" He inquired. Mush was used to seeing things in a more refined way, like pills or liquids.

Gypsy nodded. "Here, you'll just chew on this for a little." She handed Mush the white willow bark. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Gyp headed towards the kitchen to make the paste.

Skittery noticed Gypsy's friendly smile, which almost made him scowl in annoyance, but with a sideways glance at Liv, he offered a big smile at Gypsy. He looked a little silly, over-compensating for his cloudy mood by opening his eyes a little too wide.

He watched her leave as Mush chewed his medicine, and then said to Mush, "Wow, that girl is amazing. I've never seen someone so self-assured about what they're doing." He almost choked on his words, they were so un-characteristic of himself. He wasn't the kind of guy to gush. But he was trying his darndest to get a rise out of Liv because he was tired of her ignoring him, though maybe, in all honesty, he was the one who had started the ignoring.

Olivia could feel Gypsy's chipper attitude flow through the bunkroom. It crawled under her skin. How could people possibly be that happy in life? They were newsies. Next floated Skittery's words. Olivia held back from laughing. He was never that nice. She picked up the needle continuing on with the hole in her pocket. She threaded some new thread through the eye.

"I'm glad she is." Mush chewed on the bark a little unsure of how long he should actually chew on it, "Wouldn't let her do this unless I trusted her." Mush noted the tension or whatever it was going on between Skittery and Olivia. Obviously something had been going before he walked inside.

This time Skittery full-on turned to look at Olivia, but she was concentrating on her sewing or something, and didn't look at him. Then Skittery quickly turned his attention back to Mush when he heard him say something about trust or something. "Of course I don't trust her!" he blurted out. "She stole my pants!"

Mush wrinkled his entire face. "I was talking about Gypsy," he pointed out to Skittery. Mush felt like he had been talking to himself the whole time. Skittery obviously had someone else on his mind. Mush closed his eyes and tried to block the two out, maybe they would stop when Gyp came back.

Olivia's head jerked up when Skittery said not to trust her, even though Mush had been speaking about Gypsy, he was telling Mush not to trust her. She wasn't stupid. Olivia gritted her teeth and glared hard at Skittery. If looks could burn holes this one would do it. "I didn't steal them on purpose, they were near my things!" Livia pointed out. "If you would just HELP ME with these pants I could give you yours back." Olivia held up the poorly sewn pants.

Skittery frowned, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Yeah? Yeah, you asking me to help you? You going to say please first? I never help people if they don't say the magic words," he said sarcastically, but he was already moving over toward Olivia, leaving Mush to his tree medicine.

Standing in front of her, yanked the pants and the threaded needle out of her hands.

Livia was livid with Skittery as he grabbed her pants from her hands. "I don't need your help!" Olivia exclaimed standing up from her spot on the bunk. "I don't need anyone's help, not yours, or anyone else's." Livia had almost finished the pants on her own to the point that they were decent and would hold for a little while. "Just give me my pants back."

Mush was hoping that what Gypsy had given him would help the headache that was now forming. Mush only watched the two argue for a few minutes, but then turned his attention to Gypsy when she walked in.

Gypsy winced at the shouting, but made no comment, "This should help." Gyp had a bowl in her hands that had a ginger paste in it, "You're going to have undo your shirt."

Mush blushed slightly at that, but he could feel what she had given him starting to work already. Nodding Mush followed her instructions, "Gonna have to use that line sometime." He smirked.

Gyp rolled her eyes a little, but smiled, then applied the pastey stuff. Gypsy looked over at Skittery and Olivia, "What are you two arguing about?"

Skittery's eyes widened at the way Liv was speaking to him, and then his eyes narrowed with annoyance. He held the pants up, away from her out-stretched arms. "What? You want them back? After you asked for my help? I don't think so! You asked for my help, so you're going to get it!"

He ignored the looks and questions from Gypsy and Mush, still glaring at Livia.

"I never asked for your help!" Olivia exclaimed making a grab for the pants, but Skittery's arm span was a couple inches higher than her own. Olivia did want his help deep down, but not if he was going to be mean to her. Though she could probably be a bit nicer as it was. "Damn it Skittery! You don't even really want to help me!" Olivia grabbed his arm, not hard enough to hurt him, in attempt to pull it so she could reach her pants. "You didn't care earlier! Why do you care now?!" Olivia thought about punching him, but knew that wouldn't be the best move, though it would probably end this whole thing. She made another grab for the pants.

Skittery grinned, suddenly seeming to enjoy the rumble. He held up the pants even higher. As Livia jumped up to grab at them, Skittery reached around her waist with his other hand and squeezed her side, trying to tickle her. "I care now, because I see how much it means to you," he said, still grinning, and still trying to tickle her.

Olivia twisted and leaned towards the side where Skittery's hand was now trying to tickle her. She looked at his face for a moment, it seemed that every argument at one point turned into something that wasn't that bad. Why did he do things like that? The more Olivia told herself that she hated Skittery, the less she really did. "You only care because it annoys me, your smug attitude." Livia made another attempt for the pants, but lost her balance.

Mush and Gypsy watched the show. It was almost better than going to see a flicker. Well actually, it was much better than seeing a flicker. Plus it was free.

Skittery's eyes widened as Olivia flailed, trying to catch her balance. He leaned, grabbing her around the waist tighter to keep her from falling, but over-compensated his leaning and pulled her down with him, with both of them collapsing on the dirty ground.

"Oof," Skittery muttered.

Olivia landed right on top of Skittery, her eyes closed tightly as they hit the floor. She opened just one eye to see how badly Skittery was hurt. When Olivia decided for herself instead of asking Skittery if he was hurt, that he wasn't hurt, she opened both eyes. Her face was close to his. Quickly Olivia propped herself up on one arm placing her hand flat on the floor next to Skittery's head. She basically had him right where she wanted him. A small blush crept across her cheeks as she thought of the pervious comments during the day.

Olivia adjusted her weight a little straddling Skittery so he couldn't move. "Thanks for softening the landing." Olivia did her best to hold back a smile. He hadn't let her fall to the ground like he could have, like she had expected him to do. "Why didn't you just let me fall? You could have, you know." Livia wasn't in a big rush to move.

Gypsy turned away once the two fell and looked towards Mush, who wasn't sure what to do. Mush almost felt like he should leave because he didn't want to be a witness to Skittery's murder now that Olivia seemed to have the upper hand.

Skittery grimaced and started to try to get up, then realized with a start that

Olivia was straddling him, staring down into his face. "Oh, geeze," he muttered, realizing he was trapped, and in a very compromising position with Liv.

He blushed when she pointedly asked him why he hadn't let her fall. Why HAD he tried so hard to keep her from falling? "I was being a gentleman," he muttered. "And besides," he added with a small grin, "if you would've fallen, you might have ripped MY pants, too. And THEN what would you wear?"

"You're a gentleman? Since when?" Olivia gave Skittery a skeptical look. She stayed seated on Skittery's stomach, not quite done with him yet. "Well, anyway, it's a good point that I wouldn't want your pants ripped. They are quite comfortable." Livia tugged at them a bit. "I'd have to find someone else about your height and weight to annoy and steal pants from."

She looked down at Skittery for a few seconds. "Thanks, though." Olivia spoke quietly. "For breaking my fall, and all." Reaching up over his head she took her pants back, then slid to the right, off of Skittery. Though she could have gotten more out of him before getting off of him, she had changed her mind. She sat on the floor next to him leaning back against the bunk behind her and mumbled, "You okay?"

"I might be better if you hadn't sat on me," Skittery said quietly enough that only Olivia she could hear, leaning in close to her. "It gave me ideas that I can't act on. Wouldn't be, you know, proper," he added huskily. "Like those ideas you had earlier this afternoon about me." He winked suggestively, but suddenly snorted back a laugh, clearly joking around.

Olivia felt her cheeks warm up burning slightly when he mentioned earlier. He had been the one who had put that thought into her head in the first place. Then a small devious smile danced on her lips. Olivia glanced at Skittery from the corner of her eye. She knew he was joking, but still. Olivia turned quickly and kissed Skittery. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it before, it just wasn't proper, but as long as Skittery was referencing improper things, she might as well get a reaction from him.


	5. Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

Note: This story is a re-vamped RP by Morning Glory (as Olivia) and ShoeGoil (as Skittery). We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Gypsy, Mush and Pandora are also played by Morning Glory, while Lola and Dutchy are played by ShoeGoil

** Livid Olivia and Skeptical Skittery**

Chapter 5: Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, Leave Me Alone!

* * *

At that moment Lola, ShoeGoil's 5 year-old daughter, came clattering down the stairs from where she had been taking a nap all afternoon. She skipped over to where Gyp and Mush were, and when she saw Mush lying down, she gasped. "Unca' Mush? Are you okay?"

Mush looked over at Lola. "I'm fine Lola," he said with a small smile. Mush adjusted his shirt so the ginger paste that Gypsy had put on the skin above his ribs wouldn't mess his only clean shirt. "How's your day been Lola?" He inquired.

Gypsy gave the small girl a smile before getting up and going to put the bowl down that had the extra ginger paste.

"My day was fine!" Lola said. "Only, it's been very loud down here all afternoon. It was hard for me to be a good girl and take my nap." She pouted slightly, and then just as quickly smiled again as she eyed the mixture that Gypsy was holding. It looked tasty.

Gypsy place the bowl on the nightstand, then climbed up onto her top bunk.

Mush nodded a little, "Yeah it's been quite noisy." Mush glanced towards Skittery and Olivia. His eyes went wide to see the two kissing. Mush cleared his throat and looked back towards Lola, trying to ignore the melodrama. But we'll return to that part of the story, because the melodrama is what everyone really cares about, anyway.

Skittery's eyes opened wide with shock when he realized Olivia suddenly had her mouth all over him. (And maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but he was surprised, so forgive him). He briefly had the thought that kissing her wasn't so bad at all. In fact, he probably could have enjoyed it. But with shock he shoved her away from him anyway, and with a loud "Gawhh," starting wiping his face off.

Lola turned in the direction that Mush was looking and made a face. "Ew!"

Mush laughed, but stopped quickly because it hurt. "It ain't that gross when you get older, but it ain't nothin' you should be watching now."

Lola covered her eyes quickly. "Sorry Unca' Mush. Should I go back upstairs and finish my nap?" she asked, her eyes still covered.

Mush wanted to laugh, but couldn't. "No, Lola. It looks like they are done," he said to her.

Olivia was satisfied with the reaction from Skittery. It was enough for now. She leaned back against the bunk and rolled her eyes a little. "You'd think I had cooties or something," Olivia muttered, playfully shoving him on the shoulder. She pushed herself up from the ground.

Skittery had an awkward, dazed look on his face as he rubbed his mouth again with the back of his hand. "How could you act like that?" he asked then, looking up at her from the floor. "I was just joking before. Geeze, I didn't mean for you to all of a sudden be all over me." He stood up, shaking his head at Livia in a very disappointed manner. He always acted sarcastic when he was completely bewildered.

"Look you can leave me alone now...and I'll leave you alone." She gave a small shrug, and then went back to ignoring Skittery as she sat on her bunk, taking up the needle and thread again. She tied a knot carefully in the end and started her messy job at sewing. She might as well just sew the pocket shut.

Skittery watched Olivia over on her bunk. He could tell she was pretending not to pout. She was probably pretty mad at him still. Not that Skittery was very well-versed at recognizing the feelings of females. The only reason he was even aware that she was mad was because he had been trying to make her mad, and he always succeeded at everything he tried.

"Liv," he called from across the room, unbuttoning his shirt. He wasn't going to let her ignore him yet. As he unbuttoned it, he snapped off one of the buttons with his teeth and then threw the shirt and the button at her. "There. Fix that while you're at it." He walked half-naked back to his bunk, checking on his other shirt to see if it was dry yet.

Olivia winced when he threw the shirt and button at her. She didn't even bother to look over at him. "Fix it yourself." Olivia stood up and dropped the shirt to the floor. Opening the drawer to the nightstand she dug for some change and a cigarette. Once she found both, she grabbed Mush's coat. He wasn't using it anytime soon. Pulling it on, she headed towards the window and out on the fire escape, descending to the alley below.

With another Skittery scowl, which he should seriously consider copyrighting since he has spent so many years perfecting it, he watched Liv stomp out of the lodging house. He crossed his arms over his chest with a slight shiver. Why did he have to go and try to be clever like that? Now he was cold because he had no other dry shirts, and Liv was out there getting his last dry pair of pants wet. He went over to Liv's bunk and sat down, sewing his button back on his shirt with quick skill. Then he reached for her torn pants, which she had left in a frustrated heap on her bed, and started stitching up the last part of her ripped pocket. She'd be happy to see them fixed, he hoped.

Mush watched what was going on between the two of them and let out a small sigh. "The two of them were never taught any manners when they were young. They don't know how to behave," he explained to Lola. "They don't play well with others."

"You play well with others, don'tcha, Unca' Mush?" Lola said with a fond little smile, patting his forehead. "But why are you hurt, anyway? Did you fall off a elephant?"

Mush smiled some and nodded. "Of course I play well with others," he said to her, not fully explaining his little incident earlier today. "Just had a run in with some people who DON'T play well with others."

Mush looked over to Skittery. "Hey, Skitts you okay? That was a nasty fall you took there, awhile ago."

Skittery frowned at Mush's question. "Very funny," he muttered.

Mush made a face, "I was just makin' sure you are okay." He said shaking his head. Mush attempted to sit up a little, but the weight on his ribs hurt too much.

At that moment, Dutchy came into the bunkroom with Pandora at his side. Both of them were shivering and wet from the snow outside. "Come on, Pan. Let's get into some dry things," he said, heading over to his bunk.

"Who knew making snow angels could be so cold?" Pandora rubbed her arms vigorously trying to warm some part of her body up, but it just wasn't working too well. She sneezed a couple of times as she walked towards her bunk to find dry warm clothes.

"Oh!" Pandora got excited when sliding an arm underneath her bunk. Sneezing once more as she brushed herself off from the dust underneath, she produced three sweaters. "Look what I found!" she called over to Dutchy. There was a dark blue one, a green one, and a maroon one. She tossed Dutchy the blue one, and gathered her stuff to go change.

"Thanks!" Dutchy grabbed the blue sweater when Pandora threw it at him, then quickly took off his wet jacket and shirt and pulled it on over his damp undershirt. "Now for some dry pants," he said, leaning over his things as he searched for his pants. "Hmmm..." he said with a puzzled look, still searching.

Skittery glanced over at Dutchy, wondering if he should admit that he had them, or wait for Dutchy to notice on his own. He decided to wait and see if Dutchy noticed he was wearing his pants. After all, the longer he could keep wearing his pants, the longer it meant he could be wearing pants, period.

Pandora peeled her wet clothes off in the washroom stall and kicked them over a bit into the corner. She pulled on the dry clothes she had taken with her. "Much better." She looked at the maroon sweater for a few moments. It wasn't flattering, but it was very warm. Pan grabbed the lump of wet clothes, walking back out to the bunkroom and draping them over the back of a chair. They'd probably get knocked off later, but it worked for now.

"Hey, aren't those your pants Dutchy?" Pan pointed to Skittery's pants. She flopped down on her bunk grabbing her blanket for warmth.

Dutchy looked up with a, "huh?" then looked in the direction Pan was looking. "Hey, those ARE my pants!" he said with shocked realization. "Hey, man. What are you doing wearing my pants? That's kinda wierd."

Skittery blushed. "I'm wearing them because mine were soaked and my other ones were stolen. You want them back? Fine, you can have them!"

Taking Liv's spare, now mended pants, with him to the washroom, he angrily kicked off Dutchy's pants, then pulled Liv's pants on. They were MUCH too tight, and he couldn't help but think he looked a little exposed, but he managed to button them closed, then picked the other pants back up, and walking back into the bunkroom, he threw them at Dutchy. "There. They're even warmed up for you," he said with a snarl, then plopped down onto his bunk, laying his hat on his face so no one else would bug him.

Pandora watched Skittery and frowned now. He was always in a terrible mood. Pandora glanced over at Dutchy for a second, then looked back to Skittery. "Sorry Skittery," she said softly, feeling bad that she seemed to have made his bad day even worse. "You can borrow one of my sweaters," she offered, trying to make him feel a little better. The only one left was the green sweater. "Green's your color."

With a grumble, Skittery reached out blindly, his hat still over his face and grabbed the sweater. He gruffly said, "thanks," then laid it across his head, to keep out all the bunkroom noise.

Dutchy smiled at Pandora. "Well, that was kind of you, anyway," he said with a wink. "Now you stay here and keep an eye on things while I go put on these nice warm pants." With a little laugh and a toss of his cornbread fur, he went into the bathroom.

Pandora frowned slightly when Skittery was still in a bad mood, but let it roll of her shoulder. She smiled in the direction of Dutchy. "I'll warm up the blankets," she called after him, picking up a second one and putting it under her blanket with her, warming it some.

Lola frowned when she saw Mush make a grimace of pain at that moment. "You okay, Unca' Mushy? Can I get you a cookie or something?"

Mush smiled. Lola was such a sweetheart. "Nah, I'm alright right now. Thanks any ways," he said to her. "But you know who might need a cookie? Skittery might." Mush pointed.

When Mush suggested that Skittery might need a cookie, Lola opened her eyes wide with realization. "Oh, unca' Mush! You're right! He does!" She skipped off in search of a cookie.

"Betcha there's a fresh batch in the kitchen." Mush called after Lola.

A moment later Lola came back with some cookies on a plate. They were chocolate chip cookies, and were really large.

"Oh, Unca Skittery!" Lola said with a sing-songy voice. "I've got sumphin for

you!"

Skittery groaned under the sweater, but didn't respond other than that. He wanted nothing to do with that annoying kid.

Dutchy shook his head at Skittery's bad manners as he came back out of the bathroom with his dry clothes on. "I'd love a cookie, Lolie, if you've got an extra, that is," he said, reaching a hand toward her plate. She skipped over and gave him one, then offered one to Pan.

Pandora smiled brightly. "Thank you Lola," she said, taking the offered cookie. They looked extremely delicious. Pan took a bite of the cookie, Pandora pulled out the other blanket that was now warm with her body heat and gave it to Dutchy, moving over on her bunk so he could sit next to her.

Dutchy wrapped the blanket around himself, then sat down with Pan, putting an arm around her shoulders so they could squeeze in together and share body heat, that rascally devil.

Mush sat up slowly once more. The pain was actually gone for the time being, though he knew once Gypsy's stuff wore off it would be painful again. He reached over and threw a balled up sock at Skittery. "She's just trying to be nice to you, like every one else is in this lodging house."

Gypsy looked down from her bunk, "You should have gone after her," she added her two cents to him for not going after Olivia.

Skittery groaned as the balled up sock hit him, and finally sat up. "Alright, I'll have a cookie," he grumbled, so Lola shyly went over to him and handed him a cookie. "But I don't know what you're talking about," he continued, looking at Gypsy. "Why should I have gone after her? So she could continue abusing me? No thanks."

Mush couldn't help but laugh, even though it hurt to laugh. "Man, if that kiss was abusing you, then I want a goil like that." He placed his arm across his ribs applying a small amount of pressure thinking that would relieve a bit of the pain.

Skittery frowned at Mush's comment about Liv's kiss being abuse. What right had Mush to be noticing whether Liv had kissed him or not, let alone whether the kiss had been a good one (which, the more Skittery thought about it, the more he thought it was).

Gypsy scowled at Mush's reaction. It wasn't exactly what Skittery needed at the moment. "You know you weren't exactly nice to her," she pointed out softly. Gypsy sighed a little. "You two live on chaos though..." She looked towards the window. "I just don't have a good feeling. She left upset because of you."

"Look," Skittery said to Gypsy. "You're right about Liv living on chaos, but not me. I like things calm and boring. That's why I'm sitting here, and not heading after her. She's the one with the temper, so she can just blow off whatever steam she's got bottled up.

Gypsy frowned some more and bit her lower lip, "I know she does, but sometimes..." She paused feeling really uneasy. Gyp looked out the window at where Olivia had gone. "She needs help." Gyp didn't look back at Skittery when she said that.

Mush raised an eyebrow at Gyp's sudden weird behavior. "Maybe Gypsy's right, Skitts. Liv was upset because of you...plus it ain't safe for girls to be out on the street at night."

Skittery was a bit creeped out by Gypsy's trance. At least, it seemed like a trance to him. He wasn't sure what else it could be. He had never seen her act like that before, and even though he didn't believe in all her hoo-doo voo-doo powders and stuff, he suddenly had the thought that maybe it was all more real than he had ever realized.

Plus, what Mush said about girls not being out at night...he was right.

Skittery stood up slowly from his bunk, still wearing Livia's pants, and pulled on the sweater that Pandora had tossed at him earlier. "Alright. Guess i'll see you guys later," he said with a shrug, and slowly headed towards the door. He couldn't get the wierd look on Gypsy's face, out of his head, and figured the sooner he left, the better. He paused before going downstairs, though, and said, "Anyone else want to come?"

Gypsy looked at the window for a few more seconds looked back over at Skittery now. Hopefully he would be able to find Olivia, Gyp just didn't feel good about Livia being out there on her own.

"I'll go...oooh..." Mush offered, but the pain hit him quickly. "Maybe not." He leaned back against the headboard of the bunk.

Link grabbed his hat and scarf from the bunk post along with his jacket. He jumped down from his top bunk and walked over to Skittery. "Let's go," he said as he pulled on his winter accessories.

"Hey, Skit. If you guys run into any trouble, you know where ta find me," Dutchy said with a grin, still snuggling with Pandora on her bunk.

Skittery shook his head with annoyance. What a big help. Well, at least he had Link's help...not that the kid was as useful as, say, Mush or Dutchy in a fight. And from Gypsy's weird way of acting, Skittery was starting to think something must be wrong out there.

"Alright...see you guys later," Skittery said rather glumly, heading down the stairs, assuming Link would follow. That Livia was such a nuisance.


End file.
